POLICE are investigating the death of a man found at a house in Stockton on Wednesday afternoon. The body of the man, who is believed to be in his 60s, was discovered at the house in Maritime Road at 1.40pm after police were alerted by a concerned family
THE motorcyclist who died after a crash near Darlington yesterday has been named by police. Paul Cornforth, 25, of Thornbury Rise in Darlington, died yesterday afternoon following a collision on the A167 at Dalton-on-Tees. It is believed Mr Cornforth
Solutions ACROSS 1 Crossbowman. CROSS+BOWMAN 9 On the ball. ONT+HE+BALL (not anag.) 10 Exact. EX+ACT 11 Manila. MAN+IL+A 12 Delegate. D+E+LEGATE 13 Lustre. (anag.) 15 Priority. PRIOR+IT+Y 18 Gunsmith. (anag.) 19 Detest. (hidden
Cryptic Clues ACROSS 1 Tell, perhaps, of angry archer (11) 9 Properly in touch with the situation and not worried, he goes to dance (2,3,4) 10 Rigorous old decree (5) 11 He takes the Italian a cigar (6) 12 Representative from Germany
A 16-YEAR-OLD boy was taken to hospital and three teenagers arrested following a gang fight in a South-West Durham town. Police said two groups of rival 16 to 19-year-old boys were fighting in Spennymoor, on Monday, at about 5pm. The fighting, involving
A BELGIAN trawler captain has been fined for illegal fishing following an 18-mile high-speed chase by the Royal Navy off the North-East coast. The Royal Navy Fisheries Protection ship HMS Severn made a night-time arrest of the Belgian beam-trawler Marie
Sage To Focus On Organic Growth Software company Sage said it remained on the acquisition trail after announcing half-year pre-tax profits of £121.8m. However, whilst the Newcastle-based firm said it continued to eye up potential new acquisitions -
Durham UCCE v Durham (University Match) : Day Two DURHAM ended the second, and penultimate, day of their MCC University match against Durham UCCE at the Racecourse ground in a strong position, 204 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand. The county's
NEW world champion John Higgins is toasting double success after being officially crowned the best player on the planet. The Wishaw star's return to form at this year's 888.com World Championship in Sheffield has catapulted him back to the ranking's
THE community safety partnership in Hambleton is backing a Government initiative. It is one of 60 crime and drug agencies nationwide to sign up for the Home Office's year-long project Changing Lives: Making Communities Safer. It has also launched
A YOUNG man who was twice arrested for being drunk and disorderly has been given a treatment order. Jamie Nicholson, 21, admitted being drunk and disorderly in Darlington town centre on March 16, when he appeared in front of the town's magistrates
A SCHOOL bus driver was assaulted and squirted with CS spray when he became involved in a road-rage row with a jet-setting businessman. Computer systems worker David McDonnell launched the attack after Colin Hunt remonstrated about his driving
A PEDESTRIAN crossing has been installed near a primary school after years of campaigning by residents. Children and their parents can now cross Ingleby Way, in Ingleby Barwick, safely after Stockton Borough Council made funding available for the Puffin
LOTTERY money is to be used to tackle rural crime. The Derwentside Rural Crime Initiative (DRCI) has been awarded almost £300,000 by the Big Lottery Fund. The money, from the fund's Reaching Communities programme, will back a range of anti-crime initiatives
THE first major event held by the re-launched Northumberland and Durham Lady Taverners, proved to be a big success, with more than £7,000 raised by the charity. The James Bond Casino Night, held at the Assembly Rooms, saw more than 260 guests enjoy a
POLICE are appealing for help after a burglary in which a motorbike and three expensive bicycles were stolen. Between 8.30pm on Friday and 11.30am on Saturday, raiders broke into the garage of a house in Appleton Wiske, near Northallerton, through
A SCHOOL bus driver was assaulted and sprayed with CS gas when he was involved in a road-rage row with a jet-setting businessman. Computer systems trouble-shooter David McDonnell launched the attack after Colin Hunt remonstrated about the way he was driving
A HOSPITAL has reviewed its procedures after an incorrectly inserted tube contributed to the death of an alcoholic with chronic liver disease. Teesside Coroner's Court was told that junior doctors and staff at the University Hospital of North Tees were
HUNDREDS of teddy bears and soft toys will parachute in to Guisborough Town Fair to raise funds for the Great North Air Ambulance service. The Air Ambulance Teddy Bears, complete with Biggles goggles, helmet and flying jacket, will be on sale throughout
A MAN whose three horses died after arsonists attacked their stable returned to the scene for the first time - and vowed to get justice for the animals. Grandfather Michael Richardson became very distressed when he went to the stables, off Lingdale High
FRIENDS of a tragic teenager who died from an epileptic fit more than a year ago kept her memory alive by completing a musical fundraising drive. Friends of Pako Moholo, who attended St John's RC School, in Bishop Auckland, raised £700 for the Epileptic
A DELICATESSEN has been shortlisted for a national award for its homemade pies. The Angels Share, in Grange Road, Darlington, has been named as one of only three finalists in the grocery and bakery category of the Waitrose Small Producers Awards. The
POLICE have released this picture of a man who was involved in an incident in the McDonald's restaurant, in Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, on Boxing Day. The man, who was in his early to mid 20s, and about 5ft 10in, was abusive to other
MOWDEN ward had the highest turnout in last week's local elections, with 55.12 per cent of residents voting on Thursday. Mowden also had the highest turnout in 2003, with 63.77 per cent. Councillor Bill Stenson and Councillor Ron Lewis, both Conservatives
A FORMER health worker is promising women a safe ride home with her new business venture. Jules Lee, from Etherley Dene, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, believes many women feel safe with a female taxi driver, and her one-woman business, Jules Lee Travel
A FLOOD defence system to protect residents from the River Wear in Chester-le-Street was launched yesterday. Riverside Residents' Association worked with the Environment Agency at Chester-le-Street District Council on the £100,000 scheme. It is at The
A MAN whose home was badly damaged by an arson attack last month has thanked villagers who have raised more than £600 to support him. Les Pickering, 39, saw his home ravaged and required hospital treatment following the blaze, which police believe was
PASSENGERS' concerns that bus services were to be scrapped in parts of east Durham were allayed yesterday. Fears had been growing in the area after Jayline Buses, which has operated services in the Peterlee and Seaham areas for several years, revealed
PLANS have been drawn up to build a housing estate with 31 homes at the new West Park development. The houses will be built at a site off West Auckland Road if a planning application is approved by Darlington Borough Council
TWO brothers were jailed after admitting involvement in burglaries and an attempted residential break-in. Paul, 30, and 33-year-old Shaun Christopher Ritson took part in the burglary of a house in Beverley Way, Peterlee, in which car keys were removed
COUNCILLORS face a political deadlock after election results gave two parties equal seats. The recent elections left Great Aycliffe Town Council, Newton Aycliffe, with 15 Labour candidates and 15 independents. It is now feared, with only two political
ACADEMICS at Cambridge University have praised a school for coming up with a groundbreaking teaching method. Pupils at Hurworth School Maths and Computing College scored among the top marks in the country after teachers introduced an innovative mentoring
A HEADTEACHER has scaled Britain's highest mountains to help raise £2,000 for charity. Along with three of his friends, Dean Judson, headteacher of Hurworth School Maths and Computing College, completed the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Breakthrough
NORTH Yorkshire schools will receive more than £300,000 over the next three years as part of a national initiative to get children walking to school. The Walk to School campaign is run by the Department for Transport and the Department for Education
MORRIS dancers descended upon Barnard Castle at the weekend - tons of them. I may anger a lot of morris dancers by saying this, but I hate morris dancing. I know I'm risking my life by saying this, because they are armed with sticks, but at least I'll
HISTORY will repeat itself as a film crew prepares to visit a stately home that became a landmark in a popular television series. It was confirmed yesterday that Castle Howard, near Malton, North Yorkshire, will be one of the locations in a new film version
JUST a month ago, I remarked on Gordon Brown's striking habit of disappearing when it suits him. The occasion then was the storm sparked by the revelation that he had ignored warnings that his raid on pension funds would wreck the pension prospects of
THE presence of their three England players has given Durham a welcome selection dilemma ahead of the championship match against Kent starting at Riverside today. While it was always likely that Ben Harmison would make way for Paul Collingwood, Durham
TROOPS from the region have captured a suspected Iraqi insurgent leader responsible for bombing British forces and terrorising civilians. Three other alleged militants were detained and three shot dead in dawn raids in Basra province yesterday morning
JAMIE SPENCER'S normally impeccable pace judgment could hold the key to Fair Along's (2.50) chances of lifting this afternoon's Chester Cup. Spencer doesn't make too many mistakes in the tactical department and he'll know that a quick-fire exit from the
Craig White returns to action in place of the injured Michael Vaughan in Yorkshire's LV County Championship match against Division One bottom club, Worcestershire at Headingley Carnegie today. White made way for Vaughan at the Rose Bowl last week but
THE tranquil setting of Nunnington Hall, deep in the sheltered valley of the River Rye, is more used to playing host to coach tours and day trippers than international rock stars. However, since May 1 the manor house has been displaying photographs by
A SEX attacker who abused a nine-year-old girl has been locked up indefinitely after a judge ruled he was a significant danger. Geoffrey Bailey will only be released from prison when Parole Board officials consider he no longer poses a serious risk to
A FARM manager has been devastated by the senseless slaughter of one of his rare pigs. David Devine was horrified to find the Saddleback sow stabbed to death in a wheelbarrow with one of its ears missing when he turned up for work yesterday. Two other
PLANS for a "communications hub" at an RAF base in the region are on hold - after the money was spent revamping a runway in Scotland instead. About 650 personnel were expected to start moving to RAF Leeming, in North Yorkshire, within weeks as part of
HARTLEPOOL United chairman Ken Hodcroft last night saluted the club's promoption winning players, labelling them a credit to the town. After winning promotion from League Two to League One in the record-breaking season, Pools ended the season in second
SOME pictures take your breath away. A newborn child, a stunning view, an animal in full flight... Today's picture of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness sitting beside one another, laughing, clearly quite happy - quite relaxed - in each other's company
A FAMILY has enjoyed an emotional reunion with their brother who sailed to Australia nearly four decades ago on a £10 passage. Ralph Hall, who left the Grove area of Consett, County Durham, with his family seeking opportunities abroad in 1969, flew into
A TEENAGER texted her boyfriend while a businessman had drunken sex with her in his office. The girl tapped out the messages "He's getting me drunk" and "He's going to rape me", and finally "He's raped me". Married Peter Baronowski had taken the girl
THE newly-introduced tenancy deposit scheme is to affect both landlords and occupiers across the nation. Here, we look at the scheme in more detail. What is the tenancy deposit scheme? The scheme is a new system introduced last month which affects how
A COMPANY specialising in home energy efficiency is working with a North-East council to help introduce renewable energy systems into its housing stock. Newcastle-based eaga will fit solar thermal panels to 24 properties managed by Wear Valley District
It's a fact of business that an employee is rarely going to spend their full working life with one company - indeed a healthy economy is characterised by a healthy level of labour mobility. However, as the UK becomes a knowledge-based economy, there
Floating hospital the Africa Mercy has set sail for Liberia, in West Africa, where it will serve as a lifeline for thousands of sick people. Nigel Green reports on the vessel's stay at A&P's North-East shipyard. MANAGERS and workers at A&P Tyne are used
TROUBLED joinery firm, the West End Cabinet Company, has been sold for an undisclosed sum, safeguarding jobs. The business, which employs 24 people at its factory on the Addison Industrial Estate, in Blaydon, Gateshead, has been acquired by Hadrian Group
If the Bank of England signals another rise in interest rates tomorrow - the fourth since August - millions of borrowers will be facing yet another rise in monthly mortgage repayments, with more possibly to come. With bank base rate (BBR) widely expected
There is an old saying referring to the stock market over the summer "Sell in May and go away . . . and don't come back until St Leger Day". The phrase was coined in the days when the stock market activity was dominated by rich individual traders, many
ONLINE hotel booking service Bedsearcher has invested in cutting-edge technology as it looks to increase sales tenfold. The Darlington-based firm has bought its former IT sub-contractor and service provider, Skipton-based SSRI, to speed up its own technology
A GLOBAL supplier of business management software, Sage, yesterday announced the £17m acquisition of Snowdrop Systems Limited. Newcastle-based Sage paid cash for Snowdrop, which provides human resources (HR) management-related software to more than 700
GREEN power company Helius Energy yesterday said it had appointed a non-executive director to lead its overseas operations. Demetri Pappadopoulos, who was born in Zimbabwe, will look after Middlesbrough-based Helius' plans to expand in Southern Africa
IT seems that work-life balance is the new buzz phrase - a little bit like total quality management was in the late Nineties. But what does it all actually mean, and how does it translate to business and employee needs? Put simply, it's about striking
A COMPANY which makes and sells bath and body products is looking to triple turnover after investment from one of the region's leading business figures. Brother and sister Shaun and Danielle Dunn, who run Fresh Deli, want to open a chain of shops and
AN engineering firm which plans to push turnover through the £10m mark and create jobs, has invested in the latest laser technology. In the latest phase of a £2m investment programme, Gateshead-based Responsive Engineering has installed laser cutting
ABOUT 180 jobs remained in doubt last night as negotiations continued with a potential buyer to save historic North-East department store Joplings from closure. An unnamed potential owner has been found for the store, in Sunderland, and talks have been
CAR dealership Sherwoods has made a move into Teesside with its first major acquisition, The Northern Echo has learned. Sherwoods, which operates two sites in the region, has acquired the assets of Patrick of Stockton Vauxhall, based on Preston Farm,
A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy has been grounded for a month after causing two near-disasters in one day.On Wednesday night, Kieron Palmer set the curtains of his bedroom on fire after climbing on a breakfast bar to reach a lighter that had been placed on a fridge
THE mystery of the Tory council candidate who officially polled no votes deepened last night when supporters came forward to say they had backed her.Shirley Bowes appeared to have made political history when she received no votes in her bid to win a seat
CONTROVERSIAL plans to sweep away existing councils and replace them with a super authority have suffered a blow.People who would be affected by the plan in North Yorkshire have given the idea the thumbs-down in a survey by research agency Ipsos MORI.It
I HOPE the fact that Gordon Brown will be a Scotsman leading England while the SNP are in charge in his own country will not become a divisive issue. As a Unionist, I believe that relations within the Union are strained enough without this becoming
WHAT has happened to democracy in this country? Over the last 15 years the people of County Durham have rejected proposals for a single unitary council. They said "no" in the early 1990s, "no" in the regional assembly referendum vote and now the
DARLINGTON MP Alan Milburn says Conservatives are "depressed" and were "rejected" by the people of Darlington in last Thursday's local elections and that the constituency cannot be regarded as marginal (Echo, some editions, May 7). I have the following
BEWARE, Sam Allardyce. Your standing in the game of football is about to go into free fall. Yes, the Newcastle United manager's job has seen off so many big names from the world of football. Take Kenny Dalglish. He won everything with Liverpool
AS news of another British soldier's death in Iraq brings the number of fatalities to 147, it is time to review our position militarily. We all know that our troops sign up and, come what may, they answer their command. But never forget their courage
IT appears we may get our garbage collected only once a fortnight. How dreadful. If our rubbish attracts vermin, will Darlington Borough Council pick up our pest control bills? Maybe we should all leave our bin bags at the Town Hall's doorstep?
PAUL Rivers seems to be dismayed by the thought that if the Conservatives win the next General Election we in the North-East will be ruled by a party for which we have not, by and large, voted (HAS, May 7). But, surely this is the current situation
I WOULD like to second the comments about the NHS by Peter J Brown (HAS, Apr 30). I, for one, could not find fault, from the quick response by the ambulance and my short stay in Darlington Memorial Hospital and would like to thank all the people
A TEAM of Britain's foremost forensic scientists, said to be world leaders in DNA research, are to carry out new tests in the long-running hunt for the killer of County Durham housewife Ann Heron. Nearly 17 years ago the body of Mrs Heron was found by
The Darlington exodus continued yesterday when four more players were deemed surplus to requirements. The official retained list is not announced until tomorrow, but of the remaining players out of contract, six have been told they have a future at the
CAR dealership Sherwoods has made a move into Teesside with its first major acquisition, The Northern Echo has learned. Sherwoods, which operates two sites in the region, has acquired the assets of Patrick of Stockton Vauxhall, based on Preston Farm,
A COMPANY which makes and sells bath and body products is looking to triple turnover after investment from one of the region's leading business figures. Brother and sister Shaun and Danielle Dunn, who run Fresh Deli, want to open a chain of shops and
ABEL XAVIER ended his second spell at the Riverside Stadium yesterday, with his departure increasing the pressure on Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate to step up his pursuit of a new full-back. Xavier's failure to receive the salary he felt he had
WE ARE meant to be raising children, not battery hens. A new £46m 'super school' has been built without a playground. Children will have organised sports, but there will be no break in the day apart from a mere 30 minutes for lunch. Which probably makes
A RULING denying treatment to tens of thousands of Alzheimer's patients could be overturned as soon as next month after a judge last night ordered a fast-track review of the decision.The High Court said a judicial review to challenge the withdrawal of
BRITAIN'S most successful Paralympian, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, is all set for an emotional farewell to competition at the Visa Paralympic World Cup this weekend.The 11-times Paralympic gold medallist from Redcar, east Cleveland, will compete in her
Shilpa Shetty has learned to profit from controversy - the Celebrity Big Brother racism row and that Richard Gere kiss certainly didn't harm her career. Now, her latest film, about an Indian wife and mother who has an illicit affair, promises
VISITORS to one of the region's beauty spots have been urged to put safety first after a man fell 60ft to his death.Daniel Davies, 30, from Jarrow, South Tyneside, died when he fell from the top of High Force waterfall, in Teesdale, County Durham, on
Two-tone shoes are certainly not to everyone's taste, but there are those who consider them rather dapperWE'RE back from the annual pilgrimage to Pembrokeshire, dawn to dusk blue skies throughout, and thus to the nothing-new-under-the-sun debate about
NINE YEARS after turning his back on the army and taking a gamble on leaving his native Caribbean, Carlos Edwards will fulfil a long-standing dream next season by embarking on a different battle front - the Premiership.As a teenager, the Sunderland winger
WITH the future of a number of senior Newcastle players now far from certain, Sam Allardyce's first job as the club's new manager is likely to be to fend off interest in fit-again frontman Michael Owen.Caretaker manager Nigel Pearson presided over his
